[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14585]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             MISSED OPPORTUNITIES AND MISPLACED PRIORITIES

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Madam Speaker, I want to say just a few words about missed 
opportunities and misplaced priorities.
  This is typically appropriation season, but this is only our second 
appropriation bill--and maybe final appropriation bill that we do all 
year. We typically have an open rule where any Member can bring any 
amendment to the floor as long as it is germane to strike spending and 
save money for the taxpayers, yet this year the Rules Committee only 
saw fit to allow 22 percent of the amendments offered to go onto the 
floor today.
  Typically, any Member can offer any amendment they would like to as 
long as it saves money. But instead of saving money this year, we 
decided to spend time doing things like H.R. 1460, recognizing the 
important role of pollinators, or supporting the goals and ideals of 
Railroad Retirement Day, or congratulating the Saratoga race course. 
These are suspension bills that take 10 minutes to debate on the floor; 
that's the same amount of time that we give for amendments. And so 
instead of doing amendments to save money, we're actually honoring 
racehorses and things like that.

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